Polls deter Maori | Northland News | Local News in Northland

Voter apathy, and polls showing a clear National Party victory, were behind only 51 per cent of Maori casting their votes in Te Tai Tokerau at last month's general election, a Maori political scientist says.

Nationally the percentage of enrolled voters who voted was a low 73 per cent in the November 26 general election, but it was far lower in the Maori electorates.

In Te Tai Tokerau, which saw another close contest between successful Mana Party leader Hone Harawira and Labour List MP Kelvin Davis, 17,421 people voted, or a mere 51.88 per cent of the 33,579 Maori enrolled to vote in the electorate.

The turnout was well below the 20,455 that voted in general elections in 2008 and 20,070 who voted in 2005, but above the 13,594 who voted in the June by-election called when Mr Harawira left the Maori Party.

Paerau Warbrick, political lecturer at Otago University's Te Tumu School of Maori, Pacific and Indigenous Studies, said special votes still to be counted would lift the voting percentage, but it was still a very low turnout.

At the same time, the turnout for the Whangarei electorate was 32,153, or 69 .27 per cent, well below the 36,716 who voted in 2008 and 35,685 in 2005. A total of 30,099 people voted in the Northland electorate, or 68.33 per cent of registered voters, which is below the 34,372 in 2008 and 31,172 in 2005.

Dr Warbrick said in Te Tai Tokerau, as in all the Maori electorates, it appeared that apathy and a strong belief, indicated by the pre-election polls, that National would sweep to power deterred voters from turning out. The National Party gained 47.99 per cent of the party vote across the country, its strongest results since 1948.

Dr Warbrick said the June by-election saw the Labour Party put unprecedented efforts into getting Mr Davis in ahead of Mr Harawira, which resulted in a very, very close race and the vote was in the national spotlight for weeks.

"But when it's come to this general election ... there wasn't the enthusiasm, and I believe that was part and parcel a result of the polls beforehand, that showed National was going to get in easily, so many people stayed home," Dr Warbrick said.